COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF WURNO, DANGE AND WEPPA GYPSUMS IN NIGERIA FOR PLASTER AND CERAMIC PRODUCTION

📄 Project Abstract

The raw mineral used world-wide in the production of plaster of Paris is gypsum. This is available in Nigeria. Constant importation of plaster of Paris constitutes a drain on national economy and an added cost on ceramic mass production. Its availability has prompted the central direction of this project to analyse, in a comparative way and to see the possibility of local usage which is likely to cut down cost of ceramic production. Gypsum was obtained from three locations, Wurno and Dange in Sokoto State and Weppa in Edo state. The three samples obtained were labelled and transported from sites to the Ceramic Section, Department of Industrial Design, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. They were beneficiated and calcined at the Industrial Development Centre (IDC) at the temperature of 1700C. This was done for the three samples from these locations. Various tests were carried out and they included absorbency, shrinkage, compressive and density tests. These tests aided in determining perfor...